Tag Archives: dada

“I am working on a performance film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a piece in which I tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work.”

After speaking at Open Show Toronto about two of my therapy videos I have become even more aware of the clear path my body of work is taking.

I created the Fictitious History of the Haus of Dada as a therapeutic art practise and the bulk of my film and performance work has stemmed from it. After using persona and then the Dada movement as parameters I now feel compelled to strip everything down and tell my story with my body. I’ll talk a bit about that in a moment.

I started here in 2008 when I was still very sick. I made this Eva and Bobby video series in my home with iMovie and started to find my voice

Mama Dada was going to host the installation but that didn’t feel right. Thin(k) Blank Human was born that night.

The work progressed with a library of videos like Marry The Night

A Collaboration with Steve Weiss and Leslie Barton

A solo performance at The Mod Club in Toronto

Thin(k) Blank Human: Metamorphosis is a performance piece by artist Lisa Anita Wegner (haus of dada) and musician Ray Cammaert (Pink Moth). It began as an extension of Wegner’s Trauma Therapy and represents a safe place in the search for one’s self after complete annihilation. It is both a confirmation of vitality and a call to action. The piece explores male and female layers of the neutral self and uses vibration of sound to assist in the expression of terror, hysteria, madness, resilience and joy on the journey to re-birth.

After this metamorphosis I realized that I will always continue to embody Thin(k) Blank Human but as for my personal artistic through line I have come through the structure of relying on artifice to find authenticity. My current work is based in realigning my chronically tight psoas muscles which have caused a leg length discrepancy and making my physical body unstable and chronically crooked. After going to a stretch class of Mary-Margaret Scrimger’s at Pursuit I understood the power of stretching my body and how I felt different immediately. Now every day I stretch for at least 10 minutes, some studio days I stretch up to three hours. In this stretching and realignment I am finding myself and who I really am as an artist without all the performance bombast that I so enjoy.

I am working on a nude performance / film series called Metamorphosis Human Realignment. This physical stretching practise has changed my life and now through that doorway I am creating a performance to tell the truth with my body. I am very excited about this work. It’s also the first time I am not sharing as I go.

In Toronto Canada, an arrogant performance artist declares themself amazing while refusing to show any facial expression.

Photo by Ashley Hurlock for Akhilanda Collaborative

Photo by Haus of Dada

Photo by Angela Chao

Photo by Haus of Dada

Photo by audience member at Black Cat Artspace

Photos by Angela Chao

Photo by Haus of Dada

Photo by Haus of Dada

Photo by Steve Weiss

Photo by Anandam Dance Theatre for Body Break

When we reached out to the haus of dada for comment we received the following message in German via telegraph from curator Fritz Snitz. “Thin(k) Blank Human only does private performances for close friends, artists and cherished audience members and is not interested in speaking with you peoples.” -Ritzy Fritzy

Akhilanda Collaborative is a new creative collective based in Toronto Canada. It began with a circus and film collaboration for MASHUP, a Hercinia Arts Collective Event curated by Kirsten Leila Edwards. Click the link to read the story of how “the way back home” came together and who is involved.

I felt a deep therapeutic need to continue to collaborate with this group. We truly are more than the sum of our parts. When we decided to move ahead we were stuck for an organization name. It was because we were missing someone. As well as Ashley Hurlock, Tamara Arenovich, Lisa Anita Wegner and Ray Cammaert we added Mary-Margaret Scrimger. Here she is below.

And then we were complete. We immediately started a steady stream of creative projects. Live performances, large scale art installations and films. For me this is the ideal addition to my therapeutic art practise. A group who is creatively open, nurturing and understands the emotional landscape. This is work that heals me.

I have a vision of creating myself as a whole family. Father, mother, self, sister, brother, child. I saw it as a silent black and white film series telling the fictional history of the Haus of Dada. The beginning is the meeting of Mama and Papa Dada. Mama Dada is an artist and Papa is a romantic fool who does everything Mama’s love. He is in love with the reflection of himself in her.

Slow is the new fast, so I decided to break this down to tiny pieces. Today I found a look and the beginning of Papa. He turned out silly and vain feeling like the bastard child of The Burger King and Dali. I think I’m onto something. Papa’s musical uncle is Klaus Nomi.

With this act, I activate the history of the Haus and so Papa Dada is born. Happy Birthday Papa I look forward to meeting you soon again.

I had my first projection happening on New Years Day. It was -19 degrees outside and I had a flu that had knocked me almost senseless. I had set up and tested the equipment the day before when I had my wits about me, so I decided to go ahead with it as planned. And I’m very glad I did.

I showed rear projections out the main windows at the Haus of Dada, to surprise -and hopefully delight the passerby.

I did cancel my camera person because I thought I might be contagious. I was woozy on cold and flu medication and had to set my alarm for ten to 7pm to turn on the set up. When I tested it I didn’t watch all the way through there are some pieces with words and when they came up in the program I realized I didn’t flip to rear projection so it was really a show for me, lying on the couch in the main room. Sweating, coughing and buzzed on flu meds.

I was intending to have a few folks inside the main room to watch with me, but I was in so shape to receive anyone, so locked the outside door. I set up a camera in the locked porch. I forgot that camera batteries don’t do well in a deep freeze.

So I watched the program from inside, in silence (nauseous headache required silence) and I appreciated again how my video work is like my visual diary. The vids I showed were all made in the last six months and it was a walk down memory lane for me. I am happily reminded my art is really for me.

Watching the smaller screen with the sped up process videos of me working was interesting. When I’m actually working I go out of myself and lose time and space. Watching me making stuff is surreal: I know it’s me but I don’t have a specific memory of it.

There were only a handful of passerby audience with the deep freeze and black ice on the sidewalks. I left one window without a screen so I could look out. One person, possibly still drunk for new years eve, yelled that they could watch my videos forever. I was the most interested in the walk by traffic and their response to an unexpected light show. I will definitely be doing an ongoing of series of these unexpected unadvertised happenings.

Two days later I woke up at 6am. I still feel gross but I can’t sleep and decided to write this. I am happy.

Here is a video of the programming sped up 20x. It gives a taste of the visuals.

On Hallowe’en I put up some Roscoe Tough White Diffusion in the front Window of the Haus of Dada. It makes a terrific crisp rear projection both inside and out. I played clips of black and white monster movies and the scariest scenes from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Even before the sun set it was nicely visible from the street and I was surprised that even on such a rainy night people stopped and watched for longer than I expected. Some came back several times and some sent other family members.

On Nuit Blanche I did a performance projection installation where I was a 25 foot Queen at the corner of Queen Street West and University Ave. It was interesting to have huge walking by audience and again I was surprised how long people stood watched and interacted with me.

So I had an idea for a Happening. I think that is a perfect term for what I have in mind. On New Years Day from 7pm to 11pm I will project a selection of my Moment Study Videos out the large front window of The Haus of Dada.

I made an invite on Facebook, for some folks who have expressed an interested in seeing my video studies projected. But I’m not sending out invitations like a usual event, I am more interested in the experience of the passerby. I will set up a GoPro camera to catch the silhouettes of viewers.

Artist Statement

For as long as I can remember, Story has functioned as a gateway, a way of connecting with myself and others and digging down to the truth of experience. Growing up in Toronto with German as my first language, working in theatre was my means of overcoming shyness and bonding with English speakers, finding common ground in familiar cultural touchstones.
In time, I discovered my desire to express my own stories, and began to explore acting and producing in films. Always searching for authenticity, I was fortunate to be able to surround myself with like-minded people who both taught me and encouraged me to push further with the medium.
After achieving success with my short films, a two-year period of
personal difficulties left me in an emotional darkness; and it was
once again Story and my need to express myself that way, that led me out of it, with forays into intensely personal visual art and film projects that cut even closer to the bone and reconnected me with my authentic self. I am embarking on new multi-media projects that will fearlessly probe for the truth and share the richness and hard-won lessons of my journey.